Derrick Rose’s first playoff game made NBA history, alongside the other all-time great postseason debuts of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Chris Paul, John Williamson, Gary Brokaw and whoever else you want to name. But I felt it was necessary to rank Derrick’s performance against several other real-world examples of incredible awesomeness in order to provide the proper […]

On Friday, Zach Lowe of Celtics Hub revealed: “Rose scares me. … If Derrick Rose can break down the defense either through one-on-one penetration or screen/rolls, I worry that as the C’s big men help, Thomas and Noah will be able to find the right spots on the floor before Davis/Powe/Perkins can get back to […]

Update! You can now read my Q&A at Celtics Hub. Zach Lowe of Celtics Hub was kind enough to answer a few Leprechaun-related questions leading into the Bulls-Celtics playoff series. 1. With Kevin Garnett, the Celtics surrender only 90.8 PPG. Without him, they’re giving up 99.4 PPG and (gulp) 107.5 PPG versus playoff teams. Why […]

The basics: The Chicago Bulls (41-41) versus the Boston Celtics (62-20). The Bulls are 28-13 at home (yay!) but only 13-28 on the road (boo!). Meanwhile, the Celtics are 35-6 in Boston (the third-best home record in the league) and 27-14 outside of Beantown (tied for the second-best road record). Is it a bad sign […]

Me and my big metaphorical mouth. Yesterday on Basketbawful, I made what was, in retrospect, a rather rash and foolish statement regarding Philadelphia’s loss to the Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen-less Celtics: “The defeat will almost certainly cost the Sixers the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs (unless the Bulls lose at home to the Raptors […]

Kurt Helin of NBC Los Angeles: “Remember back around the All Star break, when Bulls were an unmitigated disaster? Rose looked like a rookie — a promising rookie, but one who turned the ball over and was still learning to play in the clutch. The team gave away fourth quarter leads like Jim Cramer gives […]

What a crazy, wild, unthinkable ride this season has been. A few months ago, the Chicago Bulls were an awful mess. GM John Paxson was accused of mismanaging the team and at one point was rumored to be stepping down in semi-disgrace. Vinny Del Negro was declared a coaching bust; people were calling for his […]

If you’ve been watching the Bulls play lately, then you’ve probably noticed that Derrick Rose has been knocking down a lot of open jumpers. Trust me, it’s no mirage. Check out his NBA Hot Spots chart from the last 10 games: Dig it: Derrick’s been hitting at a 55 percent clip (31-for-56) from that midrange zone in his last […]

The Chicago Bulls: .500 (at 40-40) for the first time since mid-November (when they were 5-5). I will now do the dance of joy! Chicago had already clinched a playoff berth when Charlotte suffered a three-point loss to the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Friday Night, but that hardly effected the quality of play. Both teams still wanted […]

Since the stress fracture in his right tibia hasn’t gotten any better, the Bulls have shut Luol down for the year. I mean, officially speaking, it’s for “the rest of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs.” But that’s just a semantic rope-a-dope. Deng’s season is over. Said coach Vinny: “It’s just best […]